“No!” Ruby retorted, irritated by his apparent humor at her expense. But then she immediately questioned her overly quick response. Why had she answered negatively when her purpose was supposed to be persuading him to marry her? Some seductress she was turning out to be!
“Oh, all right,” she muttered, hot-faced with self-consciousness, as she reached for the hem of her loose tunic and pulled it up over her head.
Thork had just finished wiping his face with a square of linen when he realized what she was doing. “Odin’s eyeballs! What are you about now?” he sputtered, then ordered, “Put your garment back on.”
“You told me to take it off. You said you wanted to look at my chest,” Ruby argued, then finally gave in to her innate modesty and covered her breasts girlishly with her hands.
“I was not serious,” he choked out, unable to pull his eyes away from the sight of her standing in her black lace bra and panties. His smoldering eyes took in every inch of her exposed body.
Ruby shifted nervously from foot to foot, uncomfortable with his silent scrutiny, but before he had a chance to kick her out, she forced herself to follow through on her plan of persuasion. Reaching behind, she unsnapped her wispy bra, letting it drop to the floor.
“What do you think?” she squeaked.
Well, that certainly wiped the smile off his face!
Thork dropped his towel and gazed at her in amazement. “I cannot be sure,” he said huskily. “Come closer.”
The fire in his glittering eyes awakened slumbering embers deep inside Ruby that had been banked for such a long time. One part of Ruby wanted to rebel, to run like crazy from the room and the humiliation of her wanton behavior. The other part, the stronger one, pushed her feet—step by reluctant step—closer to Thork. The odor of his skin intoxicated her—sun, soap and man. Oh, yes, man! When she stopped a mere foot away, he took both breasts in his hands, weighing them, reshaping them. Cupping the undersides, he ran the pads of his thumbs over the already erect tips, and Ruby’s knees turned to Jell-o. Trembling, she reached up to his shoulders for balance.
Thork’s eyes collided with hers, questioning. His lips parted and he ran his tongue over their dryness.
“Truly, they are a… marvel,” he rasped out, “but then one cannot know for sure till the tasting.” Lifting her off the floor so her breasts were level with his face, he prolonged the moment agonizingly as his breath fluttered warmly against first one and then the other of the firm mounds. Finally he took a good portion of her breast in his wide mouth, drawing deeply, pulling slowly outward until his lips closed on the nipple.
” ‘Tis sweet as honey,” Thork whispered against her skin.
Ruby moaned and arched her back, begging softly, “That… feels… so… good! Oh, please, don’t stop.”
“As if I could!” Thork murmured in a raw voice, using his tongue expertly to lave the aureole, then circle the nipple wetly before flicking the tip in rapid vibrating motions.
Ruby cried out.
He moved to the other breast and repeated all the same motions, growling with satisfaction when she mewled softly. “Oh, yes, little cat, purr for me just so,” he coaxed.
By the time he lowered her to her tiptoes, brushing her nipples against the silky hairs on his chest in the process, Ruby’s mouth was level with his, and she could feel his steely erection pressing against her stomach. When his lips closed in on hers, Thork murmured in a thick, unsteady voice, “Is this what you came to talk to me about, little witch? Didst change your mind about bedding with me?”
His lips were already sealed with hers, devouring, pressing, when Ruby’s bemuddled mind registered his words. No, that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about, she reminded herself dazedly. What was it? Oh, yes! Now she remembered fuzzily.
“Thork,” she whispered. She pulled away from his lips, but he followed her and kissed her once again. This time she spoke louder when she broke the kiss with a gasp, “Thork, this isn’t what I wanted to talk about,” she said and drew in her breath sharply as his tongue assaulted the sensitive recesses of her ear. “At least, not exactly.”